US States Trivia Question

[albionmoonlight]

Four of the 48 contiguous states have no parts of their borders defined by a river.

Name those four states.

[Butter]

I got 3 of the 4 pretty easily... but unsure on the 4th without looking at a map... so I'll take a stab.

Spoiler

Wyoming, Colorado, Hawaii.... Utah?

[albionmoonlight]

Originally Posted by Butter_of_69

I got 3 of the 4 pretty easily... but unsure on the 4th without looking at a map... so I'll take a stab.

Spoiler

Wyoming, Colorado, Hawaii.... Utah?

48 contiguous. So Hawaii is wrong. Your other three guesses are right.

[Butter]

Um, yeah. I knew that the whole time.

[cuervo72]

Hmm. I would have guessed

Spoiler

Wyoming, Colorado, ND, SD

, but obviously one or both of the latter two is wrong.

[albionmoonlight]

Originally Posted by cuervo72

Hmm. I would have guessed

Spoiler

Wyoming, Colorado, ND, SD

, but obviously one or both of the latter two is wrong.

Both of the latter two are wrong.

So we are still missing one.

[Butter]

Spoiler

Delaware?

[Blackadar]

Spoiler

New Mexico?

[Buccaneer]

Spoiler

Colorado
Wyoming
Utah
Montana

[Buccaneer]

Since this is my thing, I would recommend this book if you are interested in how each state's borders came to be Amazon.com: How the States Got Their Shapes (9780061431395): Mark Stein: Books

[Buccaneer]

Can you name the one contiguous state that only shares one border?

Which states shares the most borders: Missouri or Tennessee?

[albionmoonlight]

Originally Posted by Buccaneer

Colorado
Wyoming
Utah
Montana

WINNER!

(Source: http://www.mdcourts.gov/opinions/cosa/2014/0040s13.pdf at page 4, footnote 4).

[albionmoonlight]

Originally Posted by Buccaneer

Can you name the one contiguous state that only shares one border?

Spoiler

Maine?

[gstelmack]

Originally Posted by Buccaneer

Since this is my thing, I would recommend this book if you are interested in how each state's borders came to be Amazon.com: How the States Got Their Shapes (9780061431395): Mark Stein: Books

This is also a TV series on Amazon Prime that is pretty good.

[Butter]

It would've taken me 42 more guesses to get Montana... their whole Western border looks like a river shape, but I see it is not.

[Buccaneer]

Butter, I believe it follows the continental divide in part or at least the ridgeline of mountain ranges (trying to remember off top of my head).

Albion, correct.

Gstelmack, thanks I had no idea.

[Buccaneer]

Here's a new one. What state has the most lakes? Which ones are 2nd and 3rd?

[murrayyyyy]

Originally Posted by Buccaneer

Here's a new one. What state has the most lakes? Which ones are 2nd and 3rd?

Spoiler

Alaska has to be #1. Too much snow and land there. I'd guess for the 2/3's somewhere up north like Wisconsin, Michigan or Minnesota (I mean they say 10000 lakes)

[Buccaneer]

Murray, you're correct, good picks. Alaska is 1 followed by Wisconsin and Minnesota.

[albionmoonlight]

One thing I learned living in Alaska is that it tends to be the answer to a lot of "Which state has the most/biggest X" type questions.

[sterlingice]

Hm.. I would have guessed Rhode Island for the fourth one on the river question but it looks like one tiny bit is. Learned something new today

SI

[britrock88]

Good stuff. NV's bottom corner tripped me up, as well as the deceptive western MT border mentioned before.

To what Bucc mentioned earlier, MO/TN border 8 states each (including each other), tied for the most.

[Julio Riddols]

I would have just gone with the 4 states with straight borders on all sides. Turns out that would have almost worked.

[Buccaneer]

Originally Posted by Julio Riddols

I would have just gone with the 4 states with straight borders on all sides. Turns out that would have almost worked.

Only three states fit that criteria. New Mexico almost makes it four except for the Rio Grande north of El Paso. I tried to come up with a state that borders only by water (except for Hawai'i) but no such thing. New Jersey, I think, comes the closest.

[Wolfpack]

Interestingly, North Carolina comes ridiculously close to being the fifth state. The only river borders it has are the Catawba River where it becomes Lake Wylie southwest of Charlotte (about 10 miles in total) and then a really tiny bit of river along the North Carolina/Virginia border (about a half-mile) about halfway between Lake Gaston and Virginia Beach. Most people don't know that the line between North Carolina and Virginia is only "approximately" straight. There are a few jogs here and there and this little blip of river happens to be one of those jogs.

[CU Tiger]

Originally Posted by Buccaneer

Murray, you're correct, good picks. Alaska is 1 followed by Wisconsin and Minnesota.

I'm pretty sure michigan is second, no?

I know michigan gas more lakes than mn.

And in a weird but o trivia, Oklahoma leads in man made lakes.

[ISiddiqui]

Originally Posted by Buccaneer

Only three states fit that criteria. New Mexico almost makes it four except for the Rio Grande north of El Paso. I tried to come up with a state that borders only by water (except for Hawai'i) but no such thing. New Jersey, I think, comes the closest.

You could have asked about the only 2 states that are peninsulas - people tend to know about Florida, but forget that the Delaware River runs up the entire length of the West part of NJ.

Wait... I guess that only applies to contiguous. Alaska is a peninsula as well.

[Buccaneer]

I remember a question that Jim raised years ago that still interests me. There are four states that have near-exclave lands. A true-exclave/enclave would be a land that is completely surrounded by another country (exclave is surrounded by foreign land and water; enclave by land). A near- (or practical-) exclave is where the land is attached to a foreign land but otherwise surrounded by its own territorial waters. In other words, you can only reach a part of these states by land if you travel through another country. What are the four states?

[albionmoonlight]

If we are talking about being surrounded by another state and not another country, I know that one of the answers is

Spoiler

Kentucky
Kentucky Bend - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

[DaddyTorgo]

Originally Posted by albionmoonlight

If we are talking about being surrounded by another state and not another country, I know that one of the answers is

Spoiler

Kentucky
Kentucky Bend - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

obviously

Spoiler

Alaska

is one

[Buccaneer]

albion, exclaves would be have to travel through a foreign country in order to reach a state's land.

[Fonzie]

Would the

Spoiler

Upper Peninsula of Michigan

fit this definition?

edit - NM, just saw bucc's clarification

[Fonzie]

I know that

Spoiler

Minnesota and Washington

both seem to fit the description.

[britrock88]

Agreed with Fonzie and DT. What's the fourth? Hmm...

[britrock88]

Found another:

Spoiler

Vermont--check Lake Champlain along the NY/VT border

[Cap Ologist]

Which states are most eastern, western, northern and southern?

[Alf]

Trying

Spoiler

Eastern : Vermont
Western : Hawaii (or Alaska if you consider inland only)
Northern : Alaska
Southern : Florida

[Cap Ologist]

Your northern answer is right.

[albionmoonlight]

Spoiler

Eastern, Western, Northern: Alaska
Southern: Hawaii

[Buccaneer]

You guys got the four near-exclaves: Alaska, Washington, Minnesota and Vermont. Nice work.

Alf, don't forget how far Hawaii is to the south.

[Buccaneer]

Albion, I believe all of Alaska is considered in the Western Hemisphere. No parts of it crosses the date line.

[Cap Ologist]

The Aleutian islands cross the 180 line, but the date line was drawn around the islands to keep them in the same day, making it the most eastern as well as most northern and western. Hawaii is most southern.

[Buccaneer]

Yeah, it depends on where you make the east-west line: date line or 180.

[Alf]

Originally Posted by Buccaneer

You guys got the four near-exclaves: Alaska, Washington, Minnesota and Vermont. Nice work.

Alf, don't forget how far Hawaii is to the south.

I actaully thought it was on "San Francisco" latitude. Gotta check a map newt then

[Alan T]

Speaking about the exclaves question from Bucc... the part of Vermont that you have to travel through Canada to get to is actually right next to my sister's house. When I visit her, I go running along that stretch of land, and actually run between the countries through the border crossing there. In reality though, to get to that part of Vermont, they have bridges though to get across the water, so you don't technically have to go through Canada to get there anymore. (even though that doesn't really affect the answer to the trivia question. Just was interesting to me since I know that area very very well)

[albionmoonlight]

Originally Posted by Alan T

Speaking about the exclaves question from Bucc... the part of Vermont that you have to travel through Canada to get to is actually right next to my sister's house. When I visit her, I go running along that stretch of land, and actually run between the countries through the border crossing there. In reality though, to get to that part of Vermont, they have bridges though to get across the water, so you don't technically have to go through Canada to get there anymore. (even though that doesn't really affect the answer to the trivia question. Just was interesting to me since I know that area very very well)

I know nothing about the US/Canada border. Do you have to go through checkpoints or anything? Or do the border guards just wave at you as you run past? Or are there even guards?

[Alan T]

Originally Posted by albionmoonlight

I know nothing about the US/Canada border. Do you have to go through checkpoints or anything? Or do the border guards just wave at you as you run past? Or are there even guards?

There are checkpoints, even on the small roads. I have to show them my passport just as if I was in a car, but the process is pretty quick since I don't have anything to claim while running empty handed.

[Chief Rum]

Hmm, if Montana is one of the four, wouldn't Idaho be too? I didn't think of either one of them because I thought that shared border of theirs must be along a river.

It seems like outside of the border with Montana, all of Idaho's borders are straight lines, aren't they?

[ISiddiqui]

Not the border with Oregon (ie, Snake River).

[Buccaneer]

Going on what Alan said, I spent some time in street view for Point Roberts, the Washington exclave (can only be on the Canadian side). It is amusing to me that the international border is through a residential area and that people's backyard fences are the border fence. Quite a contrast to street viewing Otay Mesa and TJ, for example.